IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sls/ipmsls/v3y20013.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Productivity Growth in the OECD Area: Some Recent Findings

Author

Listed:
  • Dirk Pilat

Abstract

The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has in recent years devoted considerable resources to the study of productivity trends in the OECD area. In this article, Dirk Pilat, a senior economist at the OECD provides an overview of the key results of this research effort. These include the finding that: the United States continues to have the highest level of GDP per capita in the OECD area; the gap between the aggregate productivity level in the United States and in other OECD countries increased in the 1990s after falling up to then, reflecting the rebound in U.S. productivity growth, a phenomenon not observed elsewhere; divergences in productivity growth performance are not due to different measurement techniques used in OECD countries; and difference in GDP per capita trends reflect differences in labour utilization, with the United States enjoying strong growth in both productivity and the employment rate while many European countries experiencing limited employment growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Dirk Pilat, 2001. "Productivity Growth in the OECD Area: Some Recent Findings," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 3, pages 32-44, Fall.
  • Handle: RePEc:sls:ipmsls:v:3:y:2001:3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.csls.ca/ipm/3/pilat-e.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: http://www.csls.ca/ipm/3/pilat-f.pdf
    File Function: version en francais, pp:33-45
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrea Bassanini & Stefano Scarpetta, 2001. "Does Human Capital Matter for Growth in OECD Countries?: Evidence from Pooled Mean-Group Estimates," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 282, OECD Publishing.
    2. Bassanini, Andrea & Scarpetta, Stefano, 2002. "Does human capital matter for growth in OECD countries? A pooled mean-group approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 74(3), pages 399-405, February.
    3. Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2000. "Beyond Computation: Information Technology, Organizational Transformation and Business Performance," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 23-48, Fall.
    4. Robert J. Gordon, 2000. "Does the "New Economy" Measure Up to the Great Inventions of the Past?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 49-74, Fall.
    5. Dominique Guellec & Bruno van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, 2003. "R&D and Productivity Growth: Panel Data Analysis of 16 OECD Countries," OECD Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2001(2), pages 103-126.
    6. Kevin J. Stiroh, 2002. "Information Technology and the U.S. Productivity Revival: What Do the Industry Data Say?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1559-1576, December.
    7. Dirk Pilat & Franck Lee, 2001. "Productivity Growth in ICT-producing and ICT-using Industries: A Source of Growth Differentials in the OECD?," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2001/4, OECD Publishing.
    8. Jack E. Triplett, 1999. "The Solow productivity paradox: what do computers do to productivity?," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 32(2), pages 309-334, April.
    9. Dirk Pilat & Paul Schreyer, 2003. "Measuring productivity," OECD Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2001(2), pages 127-170.
    10. Stefano Scarpetta & Andrea Bassanini & Dirk Pilat & Paul Schreyer, 2000. "Economic Growth in the OECD Area: Recent Trends at the Aggregate and Sectoral Level," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 248, OECD Publishing.
    11. Mark Doms & Eric J. Bartelsman, 2000. "Understanding Productivity: Lessons from Longitudinal Microdata," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 569-594, September.
    12. Rauf Gönenç & Maria Maher & Giuseppe Nicoletti, 2003. "The Implementation and the Effects of Regulatory Reform: Past Experience and Current Issues," OECD Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2001(1), pages 11-98.
    13. Paul Schreyer, 2001. "The OECD Productivity Manual: A Guide to the Measurement of Industry-Level and Aggregate Productivity," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 2, pages 37-51, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David Laidler & William B.P. Robson, 2004. "Two Percent Target: The Context, Theory, and Practice of Canadian Monetary Policy since 1991," C.D. Howe Institute Policy Studies, C.D. Howe Institute, number 20041, January.
    2. Raquel Ortega-Argilés, 2012. "The Transatlantic Productivity Gap: A Survey Of The Main Causes," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 395-419, July.
    3. Laidler, David, 2005. "Inflation targets versus international monetary integration: a Canadian perspective," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 35-64, March.
    4. Anabel Zárate-Marco & Jaime Vallés-Giménez, 2012. "The cost of regulation in a decentralized context: the case of the Spanish regions," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 185-203, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Federico Biagi, 2013. "ICT and Productivity: A Review of the Literature," JRC Working Papers on Digital Economy 2013-09, Joint Research Centre.
    2. Harald Edquist & Magnus Henrekson, 2006. "Technological Breakthroughs and Productivity Growth," Research in Economic History, in: Research in Economic History, pages 1-53, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    3. Eric Bartelsman & Andrea Bassanini & John Haltiwanger & Ron Jarmin & Stefano Scarpetta & Thorsten Schank, 2002. "The Spread of ICT and Productivity Growth: Is Europe Really Lagging Behind in the New Economy?," Working Papers halshs-00289168, HAL.
    4. Crafts, Nicholas, 2002. "The Solow Productivity Paradox in Historical Perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 3142, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Raquel Ortega-Argilés, 2012. "The Transatlantic Productivity Gap: A Survey Of The Main Causes," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 395-419, July.
    6. Hannes Leo, 2001. "ICT Investment and Growth of Output and Productivity," WIFO Working Papers 162, WIFO.
    7. Richard Dion & Robert Fay, 2008. "Understanding Productivity: A Review of Recent Technical Research," Discussion Papers 08-3, Bank of Canada.
    8. Gust, Christopher & Marquez, Jaime, 2004. "International comparisons of productivity growth: the role of information technology and regulatory practices," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 33-58, February.
    9. Kevin J. Stiroh, 2002. "Information Technology and the U.S. Productivity Revival: What Do the Industry Data Say?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1559-1576, December.
    10. Edquist, Harald, 2005. "The Swedish ICT miracle -- myth or reality?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 275-301, July.
    11. Francesco Daveri, 2002. "The New Economy in Europe, 1992--2001," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 18(3), pages 345-362.
    12. B.K. Atrostic & Sang V. Nguyen, 2002. "Computer Networks and U.S. Manufacturing Plant Productivity: New Evidence from the CNUS Data," Working Papers 02-01, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    13. Ohnemus, Jörg, 2007. "Does IT Outsourcing Increase Firm Success? An Empirical Assessment using Firm-Level Data," ZEW Discussion Papers 07-087, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    14. Argandoña, Antonio, 2001. "Nueva economía y el crecimiento económico, La," IESE Research Papers D/437, IESE Business School.
    15. Mr. James Morsink & Mr. Markus Haacker, 2002. "You Say You Want A Revolution: Information Technology and Growth," IMF Working Papers 2002/070, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Engelbrecht, Hans-Jurgen & Xayavong, Vilaphonh, 2006. "ICT intensity and New Zealand's productivity malaise: Is the glass half empty or half full?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 24-42, March.
    17. Ark, Bart van, 2000. "Therenewal of th old economy: Europe in an internationally comparative perspective," CCSO Working Papers 200012, University of Groningen, CCSO Centre for Economic Research.
    18. Kiley, Michael T., 2001. "Computers and growth with frictions: aggregate and disaggregate evidence," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 171-215, December.
    19. Dale W. Jorgenson & Mun S. Ho & Kevin J. Stiroh, 2005. "Growth of US Industries and Investments in Information Technology and Higher Education," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Capital in the New Economy, pages 403-478, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Szalavetz, Andrea, 2011. "Innovációvezérelt növekedés? [Innovation-driven growth?]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 460-476.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    OECD; Productivity; Productivity Trends; Research; United States; Productivity Gap; 1990s; Growth; Measurement; Measurement Techniques; Labor; Labour; Labor Organization; Employment; Employment Growth; Europe; Productivity Drivers; Driver; Canada; United States; New Economy; Multi-Factor Productivity; Structural;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sls:ipmsls:v:3:y:2001:3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CSLS (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cslssca.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.